Man Dumps Chocolate Chips on Lawn to Deter Dogs

NBC San Diego ^ | 6/3 | Dave Summers and Monica Garske

[nickcarraway]

John Robinson, of North Park, said he’s tired of neighborhood pets leaving waste in his yard and is hoping the candy will prevent dog owners from walking pets near his property

A man in San Diego’s North Park community has dumped chocolate chips in his yard in an effort to deter dogs, but the act is upsetting neighbors. Frustrated with neighborhood dogs leaving waste on his lawn and dog owners not picking up after their pets, a man known as "John" recently scattered several pounds of chocolate chips in the grass in front of his home on Lincoln Avenue and in a nearby easement. Suspects Sought in Attempted ATM Theft John said it was an experiment – and that it worked. Over the last several days pet owners have been steering clear of his property, with some neighbors afraid the candy will make their animals sick. Some concerned residents have called San Diego County Animal Control and the San Diego Police Department to complain, saying this is threatening the lives of their pets. Unbelievable Animals: Python Swallows BBQ Tongs[NATL] Unbelievable Animal Stories Sarah Fisher is one of those worried residents, and she’s warning others in North Park not to walk near John’s home. “[Residents] are scared of what he might do,” Fisher told NBC 7. “If he is doing this – which is like an animal genocide – pretty much, he's putting it out for animals to ingest and get sick.”

Through social media and a neighborhood phone app, Fisher has been alerting local pet owners of the chocolate chips left in John's yard. Fisher has a two-year-old golden doodle named Lucy that she walks with regularly. She is now avoiding John’s property but fears unsuspecting animals will stumble upon the candy and get sick.

John agreed to an interview Tuesday with NBC 7, if his face wasn’t shown on camera. He said irresponsible dog owners are constantly not picking up after their pets and leaving piles of waste in his yard.

He said he has left signs in front of his home – including a note written on a yoga mat that suggests an animal could be electrocuted if it urinates on his tires.

However, those signs don’t seem to work, John said, so he came up with the chocolate chips idea.

“They can walk on the other side of the street,” he said. “I am tired of it. People disrespect my yard; I'm tired of the stuff.

John insists chocolate won't harm the animals. Still, there is a large school of thought that says it can be toxic to dogs and can lead to illness and even death, depending on what kind of chocolate it is and how much a dog ingests.

John said he plans to mow the grass in the next few days to get rid of the remaining chocolate morsels. However, his neighbors want something done about the situation immediately.

San Diego County Animal Control Deputy Director Dan DeSousa said animal services investigators were notified of this incident by North Park residents on Monday.

He said the investigation is ongoing, and no further details would be released at this time. On Wednesday John said someone had broken the mirror on his car in what he believes is retaliation against him putting the chocolate chips in his yard.

[from occupied ga]

and hey, poisoned the ground water, what a bonus!

I doubt a gallon or so would do that, now if he'd dumped a couple of hundred gallons...

Raw fecal matter contaminates the ground water too, or didn't you know that?

[TigersEye]

However, his neighbors want something done about the situation immediately.

Keep your dogs off of his lawn. Problem solved! Friggin' Progressive scum.

[cherokee1]

I use a live trap for that circumstance——where a neighbor just thinks it’s OK to let a dog run loose. I catch the dog, call Deputy Dog, let him pick up the pooch. Doing that gets the owner a bill for $460.00. One local owner was a little slow on the uptake and wound up paying the judge something over 12 grand. Then the judge lost his sense of humor and took the dogs away from dumbassboy.

Live traps are really hard to argue with.

[dware]

then I would not ever bring my dog near his property.

Problem solved, and quite well and intelligently, I do believe. Might the guy go off later? Sure he might. Then again, are we going to start supporting punishment of thought crimes now, too?

[Albion Wilde]

People who get this angry with neighbors should live out in the country.... for the sake of their own sanity.

Here is a typical town house throughout much of the east coast suburbs. Notice the tiny front lawn, which is private property, and the grass on the outside of the sidewalk, which is typically community property. Why would anyone think it is ok to make their dog poop on the lawns, many of which are gardened with flowers and shrubs, when the community property is a mere 2.5 feet away? Yet they do. And the owners pay from tens to hundreds of dollars per month on top of their mortgage payments to have community rules and leash laws, yet morons routinely flout those rules just to piss others off, then claim that the person who was trespassed upon is somehow in the wrong.

[chris37]

I hope not. I have committed more than my fair share of thought crimes in my time. No actual crimes, but boy sometimes people get under my skin and I just think...

Well, like that guy recently in the news for taping his dogs muzzle shut to such an extent that it caused serious injury... If someone could read my thoughts on what I want to do to that guy, I’d be in trouble for sure.

But back on the subject of this guy, I watch this program on Investigation Discovery called Fear Thy Neighbor.

It is almost always a case of a minor misunderstanding, or disagreement or event that leads to a slow building simmering rage that inevitably ends in murder or even the murder of an entire family by the person whose rage built like that.

People are capable of this type of behavior. It’s not common, but it definitely happens.

If I am aware that someone is simmering over something I did, then I am going to do my best to reverse that simmer including removing myself from the equation altogether. I do not want to intentionally piss someone off over time. Not wise.

[TexasGunLover]

It’s his yard. How does that make him a nut?

[Albion Wilde]

deer rarely poop in the yard.

Surely you jest. You must not live near a woods. It looks like rabbit poo, only larger, or sheep poo. Cloven hoof poo. They poop in the yards and walk up and down the sidewalks all night around here, then run between houses back into the woods.

[smoothsailing]

[from occupied ga]

I do not want to intentionally piss someone off over time. Not wise.

Very true, but yet (some) dog owners feel they have a special right to do just that. I don't get it.

[arbitrary.squid]

yes, it does, by the birds and all kinds of animals.

I’m no fan of fecal material. But I would not advocate pouring hydrocarbons into the environment, either.

[sitetest]

Dear cherokee1,

We used to use live traps for groundhogs. But they never got caught in the traps. We'd catch other sorts of critters. but not the groundhogs.

sitetest

[Salamander]

You’re not gonna believe this ping

[strider44]

Good for him. Screw those irresponsible dog owners. And for the record, I currently own a German Shepherd and have had at least one dog for the last 15 years. Drives me crazy when people let their dogs shit all over the place.

[sitetest]

Dear Albion Wilde,

Actually, I live in a semi-rural area that backs to woods. We get a lot of deer through our yard, and through our area. Folks have to be careful driving at dusk during certain parts of the year. Hitting deer is not uncommon.

But I guess we have reticent deer. Mostly, they stay in the woods or in the back of the yard, near to the woods. They spook easily. When they're in the yard, usually, they're moving through the yard. They run from the woods in the back of my house, and run across the street in front of my house, and then into the woods behind the houses on the other side of the road. They don't stay in the open for extended periods.

So, we see a little deer poop. But usually not much.

But that changes when the plums fall off the tree and rot. Then the deer feast for a few days, and wander around drunkenly, out in the open, with much less trepidation.

sitetest

[IYAS9YAS]

Some dog owners may not even know about the issue of chocolate.

My little miniature dachshund ate Whoppers candy, M&Ms candy, and other tidbits he could get, and lived to a ripe-old age of 19. Of course, most of that was milk-chocolate. Of course, this was the '70s and '80s, when we didn't know such things could kill him.

[IYAS9YAS]

16, not 19. Hit the wrong key.

[theBuckwheat]

What worked for us many years ago was to stretch a single strand of electric fence wire at nose height around the yard and then to put a bit of bacon fat on it in places.

The dog only touches his nose to the bacon fat once. They then stayed very well clear.

[manc]

If people just respected other peoples space and property then we would be in a much better world.

If I see anyone letting their dog go on my lawn I am out here telling them to pick it up and if they tell me they don’t have a bag I get one for them.
I’m respectful about it for the first time and it’s not problem after.

[Last Dakotan]

I’d be chucking it at his house in the middle of the night. LOL

Beware of return fire.